Confrontation Counseling

Confrontation counseling is not yelling, making accusations, pounding fists on the table or getting in someones face. Neither is nagging, condemning or belittling a person. Confrontation counseling is making an employee face the evidence of their performance or behavior and requiring them to decide about their future. Confronting is most successfully performed before there is a major incident. This is when the issues deal primarily with performance deterioration.

Factors in a Decision to Confront

There are four main influencing factors when someone makes a decision to confront an employee Personal Belief System, Organizational Belief System, Objective Standards and Factual Reference Base.
Personal Belief System includes: Cultural Attitudes Unique Experiences Personal Beliefs Personal Attitudes This is how a person looks and reacts to life, people and events. For example, a retired Army officer, who is used to people being on time, will probably have less of a tolerance for employees who are late than someone who has worked at home for the past 10 years. Organizational Belief System includes: Employee-Individual Expectations Employee-Group Expectations Peer Group Expectations Upper-Level Leadership Expectations This is made up of the personal beliefs of individuals in different roles within the organization. For example, someone who is operating a forklift on a plant floor in an unsafe manner has specific expectations on how you should look at confrontation when dealing with his or her unsafe practices. Supervisors and employees peers will have similar or contradictory expectations ranging from eliminating a safety risk to expecting compassion and leniency. Objective Standards include: Company Standards Industry Standards Applicable Laws and Regulations These are the laws, regulations and workplace standards that set an objective standard or baseline. Factual Reference Base includes: Realistic Understanding of Consequences

 Aware of Helping Resources Punitive Consequences Factual Knowledge Confidence in Process The employee must realize that as uncomfortable as the process is, confrontation counseling works. The Personal Belief System, the Organizational Belief System and the Objective Standards are the foundation for the Factual Reference Base how the employee will view the process. And for the process to work it must be viewed with confidence. There must be faith in the system.